Friday morning I was feeling much better and decided yes, the road trip was still on. The girls were dragging their feet, so I said I was leaving in 15 minutes, anyone who wanted to come had better be packed and in the car, or they would be left behind!!
So this time the plan was to head south. I wanted to check out Annapolis Valley, including the farmers market on Saturday morning. Caitlin wanted to go to Cora's for breakfast too. So I figured we could spend the night in Windsor, head to Wolfville in the morning (home of the second largest farmers market according to the guide!), then go to New Minas where there was a Cora's for breakfast, then head across to New Ross for a farm museum they had there.
First stop was Walmart to get some togs for the girls. The hotel in Windsor had a pool and waterslide, so the girls decided it was time to get togs so they could have a swim! After a small bit of retail therapy, we hit the road again and drove out to Windsor. It was much closer than I expected! Due to being a long weekend, the traffic was a bit heavier than I've noticed before - and tons of cops out on the roads! Thank god for cruise control :)
We arrived at Windsor and checked into the hotel. The hotel was just on the outskirts of the town, and we had a lovely view from our window!
Something else we've noticed here in Canada - everyone parks crooked in the car parks!
It turned out there was a festival on all weekend, so we thought we'd go check it out. We found our way down to the waterfront, to find the festival in full swing - all FOUR rides of it. Hardly anyone about, other than some strange looking teenagers. So I'm not sure if we were too early or too late! On our way back to the car with two grumbling kids (not my fault the 'carnival' was a fizzer) we stumbled across a second hand book store. Emily wanted to go check it out, so over we go. There was a sign on the table saying all the books there were free. Seriously?? Emily was picking up book after book, I'm still hunting around for the catch! LOL The owner comes out and offers Emily a shopping bag and tells her to help herself, take them all! Yeah, good one, tell a book lover to help herself! She won't leave a single book behind if you tell her that! But the owner was serious - she wanted them all gone! So we were fossicking through the books, and a lady next to me said something, and I looked at her and asked "Are you from Australia?" The look on her face! She was so shocked that not only had we known where she was from, but we had (almost) matching accents!! She said she was from Perth, and I said Wow, thats where Emily was born! Next thing you know, she was hugging poor Emily like she was a long lost relative! LOL
She had been living in Windsor for 23 years and had never once met someone else from Australia or New Zealand in all that time! She was even more surprised to hear we had moved to Truro ('what on earth are you doing there???' she asked!) Small world huh!
After filling up a bag (literally, to the brim) with books, we headed back to the hotel. The girls went down to enjoy the pool - I think Caitlin would have stayed there all night if I let her!
Sleep was a long time coming - the girls had a serious case of the giggles! I had finally managed to get them to settle down when I noticed something odd. There was a little sensor on the wall opposite the beds. Every time I would move, the light started flashing. If I stayed still, it would go away. Move - flashing light, Stay still - go away. "Emily" I whispered.... "you still awake?" Next thing you know, Emily is testing it out too. And then we were back to the giggles...... We still have no idea what the flashing light was! The conspiracy theories so far range from a webcam to just a sensor for the the aircon. Well, if it was a webcam, they were probably bored to tears with hours of giggling and nothing else!
The next morning the plan was to have a very light breakfast before going to the farmers markets, and then have a "proper" breakfast after that when we got to Cora's. Good plan! So we trundled downstairs to enjoy our free "light" breakfast - good grief. The selection was literally 3 cereals, toast, juice and coffee, and mini muffins. Good thing we weren't expecting to fill up!
During breakfast, the weather channel was playing on TV, so I checked out the day's weather. Rain, rain and more rain. Perfect road tripping weather <sigh> I asked at checkout if it was advisable to stay off the secondary highways during weather like this, only to find that the secondary highways were usually more safe and better to drive on in the rain! Ok then..... (I really HATE driving in the rain!)
So we hit the road and headed off to the farmers markets! The second largest market in Nova Scotia! Fresh fruit and veges, here we come!!!!! We arrived in Wolfville, home of Acadia University, and found our way to the markets. After dodging the rain and puddles (thank you Emily for forgetting to bring a jacket and stealing MINE!) we go inside - there were, I kid you not, about a dozen stalls. Only 3 or 4 were farm produce. After all that hype, it was a bit of a let down. And of the produce stalls, there were all the same price, so it made no difference which one you bought from.
Ok then, so the markets was a bit of a flop - maybe it was because of the rain? So back to the car and on to our "real" breakfast. It turns out New Minas was only about 5 or 10 minutes drive away! hahahaha Oh well....
We found Cora's and all ordered something different.
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| I got some omelette crepe thingy - tasted very yummy! |
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| Emily got a skillet breakfast |
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| Caitlin got a ham and egg crepe with fresh fruit |
After eating our fill, it was time to hit the road again. Destination - New Ross farm museum!
The woman from the hotel was right - it was much nicer driving in the rain along the secondary highways. The speed limit was only 80km, so we could take our time. Some moron came speeding up behind me, then sat on my butt for a good 20 minutes. Every time there was a clear stretch of road for him to pass me, I would slow down a bit and pull to the side a bit so he could pass, but he never did. Just kept sitting right on my butt. It was really bugging the hell out of me! I was almost at the point where I was just going to pull over completely, just to get rid of him, when he decided he had had enough, and he sped past me and took off. Idiot driver!
We made it to Ross farm with no further incident. It was still raining, and the whole museum was basically outside stuff, walking from each building. The woman inside said if we could come back another day it would be better. After a brief family meeting, we decided to hell with it, we'd come this far, we'd suffer with the rain. So we ran straight for the first building, trying not to get too soaked! Then it was time to run from that building to the old school house - a good few hundred metres away. We had a good look around the school, looking at the old books they used, the teachers certificates (it was like something from Little House on the Prairie!), and the girls had a go writing on a slate. By the time we had finished, the rain had thankfully stopped, and we could tour the rest of the farm at leisure without getting soaked!
Next from the school, was the animals! Sheep! LOL
Then we went into the barn, and looked at all the old machinery they used. It was funny to see that they pretty much had a tool for everything - even a tool to remove bugs from the potatoes! To think that nowadays there's a chemical to do that now. Makes you wonder who really is the smarter generation?
Next we looked in the old homestead - its amazing to think people once lived in that house! The stairs up to the bedrooms were so steep - it was like walking up a ladder! The woman there was very knowledgeable about the house, and she even showed the girls how to weave wool using an old spinning wheel!
We watched the smithy make a poker stick, and we saw how they made barrels. We even saw some ducks at the pond!
Because the weather was still nice, we decided to take the nature trail back to the museum shop where we started. It probably would have been nicer if we'd taken our time - but everything was still wet, and there were bugs out in force, so we pretty much sped through as fast as we could! But it was still a lovely little walk!
Back in the car, I set the next destination into the sat nav - Peggy's Cove! I'd driven no more than 10 minutes down the road, when it started raining again. Never mind, I thought - it stopped before for us, it'll stop again! It took a little bit longer to get there than I figured. Possibly because the sat nav is a moronic piece of crap that is determined to get me lost. I swear the highlight was turn right, and I swear his annoying voice said "turn right", even Emily said she heard it say turn right too. So I turned right, and his annoying little voice said "recalculating" WTF??? Never mind - we got there all the same. Unfortunately, the rain had definitely set in for the afternoon. It was so cold and windy, and Emily refused to give me my jacket back! So I took one photo and then legged it for the warmth and safety of the gift shop!
We decided to stop for some legendary fish n chips for dinner while we were there. The service was not so great for my expensive plate of fish n chips. The girl that served us looked like she was in a hurry to be anywhere else but there. Half way through our meal she came up and asked if we were planning on getting dessert? I said I'd rather wait until I've finished my meal before deciding on whether I'll be getting anything else! Geez!! Stop rushing me!!!!
After finishing our dinner (the fish n chips were very yummy! but totally not worth the fortune they charge to rip off tourists) and spending a bit more $$ in the gift shop, we ran through the freezing cold rain to the car. Next stop - Dartmouth! I figured we'd stay the night in Dartmouth and then go across to Halifax in the morning to check out the waterfront, and explore around a bit.
The drive to Dartmouth was a bit treacherous, thanks to the fog and the rain. I hadn't realised the evil sat nav was set to include toll roads, so it decided to take me over the bridge. I hate bridges about as much as I had driving in the rain. Driving across a bridge while its raining is just too much for my nerves! Add to that limited visability thanks to the fog - well, you get the idea!
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| Believe it or not - this is the view from the bridge into the harbor! |
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| Great visibility - it was worse in real life! |
We finally made it to the hotel - I had picked the Holiday Inn for several reasons. (1) I loved the Holiday Inn when we first moved to Truro, great service, couldn't fault them. (2) It was advertised as having the best harbor view in Dartmouth, so I figured we'd get some nice pictures of the harbour, (3) it came with a free hot breakfast, and (4) it was right next to one of the bridges leading back into Halifax, which would make it easier to get there in the morning.
So we check in, and I clarified about the free breakfast. She said no, breakfast was not included. I said well, the website say's breakfast is included! She said I must have been reading for the Holiday Inn express, not them. I was too tired to keep arguing. She ended up giving me a "breakfast included" price which was $10 more, but that gave us 2 vouchers for breakfast up to the cost of $16 each, and children ate free. Ok, I could live with that. Next - the view....well, that speaks for itself....
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| The view from our "oceanview room" |
And to top it all off - a notice that the bridge would be closed the next day because of some fun run. Ugh!
The room itself was the worst room I've stayed in. It was very small - so small that the bathroom was in two parts. The shower and toilet in where in one room - there was no room to move in there! And then across the hall was the wash basin and mirror. Very weird set up! There was no microwave, no fridge to keep our water cold. The bed was harder than the floor. And there were a dog next door that barked half the night!
Breakfast the next morning was not much better. The service was slow, we waited for ages to get our meal, and when it arrived, it was cold. By this time, having been on the road for 3 days, I was kind of over bad service, so I left the worlds worst tip ever and ran for the door! LOL
The only highlight of the stay there - when we went to check out, I asked if I could keep the car parked there (after all, I'd paid for the carpark!) and she said sure, we could keep the car there for the rest of the day while we explored around! Perfect - saved paying $20 to park in the city, and solved the problem of getting over to halifax with the bridge closed! It was a 15 minute walk from the hotel to the ferry terminal, and we made it just on time!! Woohoo!! We'd just sat down, congratulating ourselves for getting on board before it sailed, when they announced that they were going to not sail for whatever reason, and they next sailing was in 30 minutes!
We finally made it across to Halifax, and made our way to the Maritime museum. Here we learnt all about the history of how Halifax was a pivotal port for the British and French, and how the Canadian Navy came about. There was a display about the Titanic, and the role that Hailfax played in the disaster, and a display about the Halifax Explosion, which was very interesting.
After we'd had our fill of all things boat related, we thought we'd have a bit of an explore. The girls wanted to check out a shop where you could make sock monkeys. So we went in search of that - thank god for iphones and maps! We've also discovered that Halifax is very hilly!! On our way to the sock monkeys, I found a little market place called Pete's Frootique, which I had heard about before. I decided to go check it out - I wanted to see if they had seaweed for making sushi. Wow - what a cool store! I could totally visit this store all the time if we lived a lot closer!!! I found the seaweed, plus a pile of other stuff like cherry cola, RJ's licorice logs (yum yum) and chunky kit kats for emily! They had an entire section of UK foods. Pity the only NZ food we could find was the licorice!
After that little detour, we went and got the sock monkeys, then it was back to the waterfront. As we were walking back, I spotted a building with a familiar logo - I thought of Mum back home who's work is in need of a new office! This place would be perfect for you Mum!!
It was mid-afternoon by this stage, and we were getting hungry, so we sat on the waterfront with some very yummy fish n chips, listening to some kid who was busking.
On our way back to the ferry, I spotted something that someone at work had mentioned....
So we had to stop and try one!
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| Emily got Apple Cinnamon |
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| Caitlin got Cinnamon Sugar |
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| I got the maple beavertail! |
Beavertails were *very* yummy, but much larger than we thought they were going to be! And very messy to eat too :)
After finishing our yummy beavertails, it was time to head back to the ferry. As we were walking back, we spotted another interesting sight!
A guy rollerblading along the waterfront, wearing a canoe, playing the banjo!
